Client/Server Communication Concepts For A Data Communications Course

As the computing environment is shifting towards client-server computing, there is a vital need for people with expertise in internet applications and network programming. We feel this area will continue to attract more attention in the future. Universities are addressing this need by offering courses in computer networking and data communications. An undergraduate course in data communications appears to be a suitable vehicle for discussing client-server concepts and internet applications due to the direct relationship between clientserver concepts and computer networks. These ideas are often complemented by hands-on experience in writing client-server applications. Traditionally, UNIX machines provide support for process to process communication within the same host by using a BSD protocol stack. The TCP/IP protocol suite is a direct extension of this idea except that it provides for communication between two hosts. In this paper, we propose a project that illustrates the interoperability of these two protocol architectures and the clientserver relationships all in a networked environment. The client and the server reside on two different hosts. The application user is under the illusion that the communication is over the BSD suite of protocols. Basically, we employ a TCP/IP paradigm at the backend of the two hosts, and a BSD stack at the front end of the client, and the server. Thus, communication from the client goes over client-side BSD protocol stack to the server-side BSD protocol stack, via the intermediate TCP/IP protocol stack.